'Bob' Hasan gets 2 years in jail

JAKARTA (JP): The corruption trial of timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan ended on Thursday night with the court handing down a guilty verdict and sentencing the defendant to two years in jail.

The sentence was one-quarter of the term demanded by prosecutors. The court also ordered the seizure of the assets of Hasan's company.

The Central Jakarta District Court said that the defendant was guilty of stealing US$75 million in forestry funds belonging to the Ministry of Forestry.

But the defendant, former chairman of the Indonesian Forest Concessionaires Association, was exonerated from charges of fraudulent use of US$168 million funds for aerial mapping conducted by the defendant's company, PT Mapindo Parama, between 1989 and 1999. According to the judges, it was a civil case between the company and the association.

Even though the state suffered $75 million in losses, the court only ordered the defendant to pay compensation of Rp 14 billion ($1.48 million) because the court believed the rest of the state's losses could be recouped from the sale of the assets of PT Mapindo.

Assets to be confiscated include three cars, three plots of land as well as the buildings on it, located on Jl. Dewi Sartika, East Jakarta, a 7,600-square-meter plot of land in Ceger, Tangerang, and three mapping cameras.

The court also ordered the defendant to pay a Rp 15 million fine or spend a further six months in jail.

Prosecutor Arnold Angkow had earlier urged the court to sentence Hasan to eight years in jail and order him to pay $244 million in compensation, as much as the state losses. He also asked the court to fine the defendant another Rp 30 million or give him another six months in jail.

The charges carry a maximum life sentence.

Hasan, who was the minister of industry and trade in 1997 and a longtime crony of former president Soeharto, has been held in the Salemba detention center since March last year, which means he will only spend another 14 months in jail.

The 70-year-old defendant, wearing a green shirt, a tie and black trousers, looked cheerful and joked with journalist before the verdict was read. Upon hearing the court's decision, he looked a bit tense. "I will appeal," he said.

The prosecutor said he would also consider appealing.

The trial was scheduled to start at 9 a.m., but did not began until 1:50 p.m. because, according to the prosecutor, the judges had to go to the Supreme Court.

Before presenting the verdict, Soebardi asked if he should read the whole document, or if he could omit the part about the testimony of the 59 witnesses.

Upon lawyer Augustinus Hutajulu's request, the judge decided that he, Judge Poerwanto and Judge Ali Akmal Haqy would read all of the document alternately.

About 50 police officers were deployed to safeguard the hearing, which ended at about 10 p.m.

In deciding the sentence, the court considered three mitigating facts: that the defendant was polite, that he was elderly and that he dedicated himself to national sports.

Hasan is chairman of the Indonesian Track and Field Association.

The Attorney General's Office is also investigating Hasan's alleged involvement in another graft case. Prosecutors allege that Hasan, the former chief patron of the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo), and Asmaning Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, its former chairman, misappropriated some US$84 million earmarked for export promotions that came from the monthly dues of Apkindo's members.

Hasan is the first of Soeharto's cronies to be tried for corruption. Soeharto, in his capacity as chairman of seven charitable organizations, was sent to South District Court last year on corruption charges involving US$590 million, but the court dismissed the case after Soeharto failed to appear at the court due to ill-health. The Jakarta High Court is reviewing the case. (01/sim)